The Sergeant at Arms, Paul Ransford, began the Friday, August 20th meeting with a tribute to Tom Tyson and Tom’s frequent review of the National Inquirer. He noted an ad in the classified reading, “a desk suitable for a woman, with thick legs, and large drawers.” Paul also spoke of the new technology of traffic cameras. 5 tickets later, he discovered that the camera did not monitor speed but the lack of his seat belt.

This week the Rotary donated new supplies to 304 teachers. Thanks to all that helped and a special thanks to Mike Clayton, John Perry and Robert Oakes .

The only other update was a reminder of the bus trip to Atlanta. The trip to watch the Heels beat up on LSU will take place in two weeks. GO HEELS!

There were several guests in attendance this week. Mr. Rotary was joined by Shawn Gracey. Dr. Gene Howden made a guest appearance. Mike Fields guest was visiting Rotarian Albert Mealer. Lastly, Tom Menaker, a visiting Rotarian from Florida joined us for lunch.

Bob Page, introduced our speaker, Dr. Dan Riechart, Astrophysicist. Dan, a professor at UNC, spoke about the birthing of the black holes, the PROMPT telescopes, and the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network. Dan logged into the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network to show the six telescopes in Chile. Dan was able to relocate the telescope with a swift stoke of the keys. Each of the six telescopes detects different optical colors. The different colors help indicate the distance to earth. Through the use of this technique , the birth of a black hole 12. 3 billion years ago was visible. Not only did Dan and his students create the technique for the telescopes but they wrote the software to remotely monitor these telescopes. This software remotely monitors many telescopes all over the world. Dan Riechart’s work with students at UNC is unbelievable and it is so exciting that it is all happening in our town.